Update: In addition to the studios mentioned below, Kotaku has discovered that RedOctane, the original publisher of Guitar Hero and the firm behind the plastic instruments, has been completely closed. Employees responsible for Guitar Hero hardware will now report straight to Activision; the rest (30-40 people) have been laid off. Activision still has not addressed what's going on specifically at any of its studios.
Original story:
Activision Blizzard had a stellar 2009, with revenues climbing all the way to $4.28 billion. That doesn't mean that its employees are immune to layoffs, however. Unconfirmed reports are coming in today that several studios are getting hit with headcount reductions. According to a Twitter post from George Broussard, Radical Entertainment (Prototype) is facing 90 layoffs, while another report cites sources from within Activision that point to layoffs at Guitar Hero studio Neversoft. Furthermore, after work on Guitar Hero 6 is done, the franchise will reportedly be handed over to Vicarious Visions, which has experience working on the Wii ports of Guitar Hero as well as Nintendo DS entries in the series.
According to Broussard, it appears that Activision has also shut down Luxoflux, and the studio's website no longer loads, which clearly isn't a good sign. Luxoflux has worked on conversions of games, like the not-so-good Transformers on PC. Another studio reportedly closed by Activision is Underground Development, which developed Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for PS3 and Guitar Hero: Van Halen.
In a statement, Activision sort of sidestepped the layoffs news, only noting that the company is realigning resources. "Activision Publishing continually evaluates its resources to ensure that they are properly matched against its product slate and strategic goals. In 2010, the company’s sku count will be smaller than in 2009 driven in part, by a decrease in the number of music-based games we will be releasing," a spokesperson said. "As we discussed on our earnings conference call yesterday, we are directing our resources against the largest and most profitable business segments, and as part of this initiative, we are realigning our resources to better reflect our slate and the market opportunities. At the same time, we are increasing our digital/online capabilities as we expect that digital/online will continue to become a more meaningful part of our business model in the years ahead."
It's somewhat strange that Activision did not specifically discuss any layoffs during its earnings announcement. Investors may not be too pleased with that.
[Thanks to Voodoo Extreme]
3 Comments
February 12, 2010
Investors displeased with layoffs?
February 12, 2010
They won't be pleased with the lack of transparency is what I'm saying. Normally these things are revealed and discussed on the earnings calls, and yet nothing was mentioned. Analysts and investors often make judgments based on what's said on those calls and then suddenly a day later the news spreads about this.
February 24, 2010
The Kotaku story cited includes an Activision statement that RedOctane is being relocated, not closed.